Sleep Gremlins
by Reasonably crazy
Summary: When Harry wakes in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, he becomes certain that its due to sleep gremlins. The hunt begins.....


~Hey, um, I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did, because HP is cool and I would be filthy rich right now *heh heh* but I don't. So don't yell at me~  
  
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Harry Potter woke, so early that it was still dark out. It was not because of Peeves, nor any nightmare and that got Harry rather stumped. He tried to shrug it off, but despite his greatest efforts he could not get back to sleep. Suddenly the solution came to him- Sleep Gremlins.  
  
Yes, Sleep Gremlins, that was it. That was why Harry was unable to get back to sleep- the Sleep Gremlins weren't allowing it. To be able to get back to sleep, Harry would first have to hunt down the Sleep Gremlins and kill them, make them give back his sleep.  
  
Harry slipped out of his bed and searched for his slippers, but when he was unable to find them right off he stole Ron's to save time. Now he would need to find something to fight the sleep gremlins with. He considered the pitcher of water by his bed, but he decided against it; the cold water would destroy his sleep, which was why splashing cold water on people woke them up. Harry wondered where he had gained all of this brilliant knowledge. It must have been from Hermione.  
  
Instead of the pitcher, Harry decided to use his blankets to capture the Sleep Gremlins, though it would be awkward to use the large cloth while the Sleep Gremlins were so small. Ah well.  
  
He searched first under the bed, not really expecting to find the Gremlins as that was the most obvious hiding spot, but it was worth a try. Sure enough, there were no Sleep Gremlins, but Harry did find his stash of Honeydukes chocolate that he had hidden from Ron last weekend. He felt an incredibly strong urge to eat some of the chocolate, but the knowledge that it would only make it more difficult to regain his sleep allowed him to ignore it and move on.  
  
Harry searched his trunk, then under all the other boys' beds and through their trunks as well. He completed a thorough search of the boy's dormitory, all noises blanketed by Neville's snores, and left it satisfied that there were absolutely no sleep gremlins in that room.  
  
Harry crept quietly to the Common Room, where he saw a figure by the fire.  
  
"I've got you now, Sleep Gremlin!" Harry cried victoriously as he tackled.  
  
"Harry Potter, sir!" it squeaked. "It is just Dobby, sir! Will Harry Potter Please release Dobby?"  
  
Seeing that it was indeed Dobby and not his quarry, Harry let go of him and began searching the common room. "Sorry Dobby," Harry muttered distractedly.  
  
Dobby watched Harry search a while before asking, "What is Harry Potter doing?"  
  
"Looking for Sleep Gremlins," Harry answered, his voice muffled as he stuck his entire head underneath a couch.  
  
"Sleep Gremlins, sir?" Dobby repeated, watching Harry dart to the other side of the room.  
  
"Yeah." Harry ran his fingers carefully over the mantle.  
  
"Dobby has not seen any Sleep Gremlins, Dobby is sorry, sir."  
  
"Mph." Harry pulled his head from beneath an armchair. "Must be in the Girl's Dorm. Tricky, them."  
  
Dobby watched, bewildered, as Harry snapped up the stairs. "Is Harry Potter supposed to go in there, Sir?"  
  
Harry didn't reply as he crept into the room. No sound gave away the Sleep Gremlin's position(s), but they were too smart to do that. He looked beneath all of the girl's beds, resisted strong temptations to steal diaries, and stood undecidedly before deciding that the Gremlins wouldn't play so dirty as to hide in the girl's trunks.  
  
Most unfortunately for Harry, none of the girls snored, so there was no cover for the rather audible 'THUNK' that occurred when he ran his toe into a trunk; and a girl sat straight up in bed.  
  
Harry quelled the nearly unstoppable need to swear and stood stock still, hoping he would go unnoticed, hoping the girl would shrug it off, lie down and go back to sleep. He wished.  
  
"Harry?" came a loud whisper. It was Hermione that had woken up. "Harry, what are you DOING in here?!"  
  
Harry decided the truth was the best option. "I'm looking for Sleep Gremlins. Do you know where they went?"  
  
"Harry? This is no time for jokes! I would have expected this MAYBE from Fred or George, but YOU- What are you really here for?"  
  
"The Sleep Gremlins stole my sleep, and I'm looking for them."  
  
There was a pause as Hermione realized that Harry really believed what he was saying. Her silhouette froze, and though one could not actually see that her mouth was open one would know that it was.  
  
"Harry, let's go to the Common Room."  
  
"No, I already looked there."  
  
"NOW, Harry."  
  
Harry grudgingly obeyed. Dobby was still there, and was more than a little puzzled as Hermione shoved Harry into an armchair and pulled up another to be across from him.  
  
"Harry, I want you to tell me what's really going on."  
  
"I told you! The Sleep Gremlins-"  
  
"Harry, have you been cursed? Hexed? Anything?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Harry, just because you can't get to sleep doesn't mean a non-existent creature stole the ability from you."  
  
Harry sighed back at her, in mimicry of her all-knowing way. "You've got it all wrong, Hermione! There ARE Sleep Gremlins, and they didn't steal my ABILITY to sleep, they took my sleep itself!"  
  
He'd said the worst thing he could. He'd said Hermione was WRONG. She took on an expression that only Professor McGonagall could have done better, and before Harry could react she whipped out her wand and charmed him to sleep.  
  
With a satisfied "humph," Hermione put her wand away and swept back up to the girl's dormitory. Dobby looked at the unconscious Harry, decided to never get Hermione mad, and hurriedly left.  
  
All was still.  
  
Then, from their respective hiding spots, Fred and George melted out.  
  
"That was better than I thought it would be!" Fred laughed.  
  
"I never DREAMED he would go up into the Girl's Dorm," the other twin agreed, laughing heartily. He went over to Harry and whispered into his ear over and over. "There's no such thing as Sleep Gremlins, there's no such thing as Sleep Gremlins,"  
  
"There's...no...such thing... as...Sleep...Gremlins..." Harry repeated.  
  
"Who knew this muggle hypnotism would work so well?" 


End file.
